‘Stories’ installation exhibit to include written word, art, audio

Cogs and Wheels volunteers Flo LaMagna, Rebecca Duncan, Blake Wiggs and Jane Horner look through submissions in the ‘Stories’ exhibit that opens July 11 at the Bank of the Arts in New Bern.

Charlie Hall/Sun Journal

By Charlie Hall, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 03:09 PM.

The Cogs and Wheels Project’s newest endeavor is “Stories,” an installation exhibit scheduled to open in July at the Bank of the Arts in New Bern that encompasses stories from local people with a blend of art and audio.

“The Cogs & Wheels Project is an ongoing initiative for confronting local and relevant 21st challenges through the fine arts,” said one of the founders and lead artist Jane Horner.

Horner and projects director Blake Wiggs have been busy for months at the Old City Laundry Building on Pollock Street preparing the exhibit with the aid of volunteers such as Flo LaMagna and Rebecca Duncan, to name a few.

The exhibit is scheduled from July 11 through Aug. 23. Organizers said volunteers are needed for July 8 to 10 to help with the installation. A reception at 5 p.m. is scheduled for July 11 at the Bank of the Arts during ArtWalk.

The group has collected hundreds of stories from adults and children in Craven County in recent months at collection sites and online. These will be exhibited on 40 hanging installations, with a cloth backing.

The exhibit also includes colorfully painted grids of carpet backing, along with paintings created by the volunteers.

Wiggs said there will also be an audio component for stories captured on tape or by other recording devices such as IPhones.

The Cogs and Wheels Project’s newest endeavor is “Stories,” an installation exhibit scheduled to open in July at the Bank of the Arts in New Bern that encompasses stories from local people with a blend of art and audio.

“The Cogs & Wheels Project is an ongoing initiative for confronting local and relevant 21st challenges through the fine arts,” said one of the founders and lead artist Jane Horner.

Horner and projects director Blake Wiggs have been busy for months at the Old City Laundry Building on Pollock Street preparing the exhibit with the aid of volunteers such as Flo LaMagna and Rebecca Duncan, to name a few.

The exhibit is scheduled from July 11 through Aug. 23. Organizers said volunteers are needed for July 8 to 10 to help with the installation. A reception at 5 p.m. is scheduled for July 11 at the Bank of the Arts during ArtWalk.

The group has collected hundreds of stories from adults and children in Craven County in recent months at collection sites and online. These will be exhibited on 40 hanging installations, with a cloth backing.

The exhibit also includes colorfully painted grids of carpet backing, along with paintings created by the volunteers.

Wiggs said there will also be an audio component for stories captured on tape or by other recording devices such as IPhones.

“I’m getting a lot (stories) online and I have noticed more people are apt to submit online,” he said. Still, the volunteers were busy unpacking boxes of hand-written and typed stories, each a page long.

“When this exhibit is installed, there will be the ability for people (visitors) to add to this exhibit and to communicate with the exhibit,” he said. “If someone reads a story that is really moving for them, they can communicate by writing back to that story.”

Horner explained that there was a meaning and purpose behind the painted grids.

“Even though they are very abstract, they are a good statement about how a whole community is interwoven,” she said.

She said an objective is “to create an environment that shows compassion and empathy for one another, for our community — the people we live around.”

The installation of the grid fabric is completely abstract.

“It is also an overview of the different parts of the community,” Horner said. “Every piece of these paintings is affected by what is in front of it, what is behind it and there is a transparency.”

Horner said that the overview of the art was reflective of the community as well.

“We are in one community and our actions affect the entire community,” he said. “We need to be aware and caring, alert, and responsive to all parts of our community. We are all safe behind our doors — safe and private.

But, we go out and there are lots of stories and lots of people.”

The 40 columns of the installation sculpture will be hung from the walls of the main gallery.

“We will also have a second copy of the stories on sculpture stands,” she said.

There will be a blank note book accompanying the stories for visitors to add their thoughts.

“That is another possibility of interaction,” she said.

There are plans to have an old school desk, which has many possibilities.

“It will be used to sit down, reflect and write on,” Wiggs said. “Our goal is to carve it up with six-word stories.”

According to the web site Six Word Stories, the idea was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous challenge and first six word story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Wiggs said the desk carving possibility is at this point an idea being considered.

He also said that anyone with audio experience is welcome to assist in the project and that donated headphones are needed.

There will also be items for sale made by clients of Cogs and Wheels partner, Wellness City of New Bern, a recovery center. The items include art cards, book marks, pins and earrings, in the motif of the overall exhibit.

For information on Cogs and Wheels, contact Horner at 288-6864 or Wiggs at 902-7343.

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or charlie.hall@newbernsj.com.